07 Come In (07 zgłoś się) is a Polish drama/police procedural that aired during the late communist era, from 1976 to 1987, with a number of breaks (there are only 20 episodes over its five seasons). The show is controversial for its heavy dose of propaganda, but at the same time it’s considered one of the best Polish procedurals of all time, and has amassed a cult following since it stopped airing. The show’s title refers to a police call signal used on the show (and in real life)—it is not related to James Bond.

The show is loosely based on Eve Calls 07 (Ewa wzywa 07), a series of short stories that appeared in the magazine Sparks (Iskry) for about 20 years starting in 1968. The series was developed by several government/propaganda officials; it was intended only partly as entertainment and more to educate people about the work the police did, and thus make people more sympathetic to the unpopular police. The series consists of almost 150 stories, most written by different authors, among them then-popular Polish detective writers and journalists.

The show that adapted the stories follows the adventures of police lieutenant Sławomir Borewicz, who works in the Metropolitan Militia in Warsaw (Komendy Stołecznej Milicji Obywatelskiej). There are a number of other characters, mostly fellow police officers and a prosecutor, though Borewicz is the only character who appears in every episode. Borewicz solves a new case in each episode, from art thefts to mob cases to blackmail to murders and everything in between. The show’s star, Bronisław Cieślak, who plays Borewicz, is best known for 07 Come In. Later in life, though, he served several terms in Parliament as a member of the Democratic Left Alliance (Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej), a social democratic party.

Julie is currently studying Russian as a Second Language in Irkutsk (and before that, Bishkek) with SRAS's Home and Abroad Scholarship program, with the goal of someday having some sort of Russia/Eurasia-related career. She recently got her master’s degree from the University of Glasgow and the University of Tartu, where she studied women’s dissent in Soviet Russia. She also has a bachelor’s degree in literature from Yale. Some of her favorite Russian authors are Sorokin, Shishkin, Il’f and Petrov, and Akhmatova. In her spare time Julie cautiously practices martial arts, reads feminist websites, and taste-tests instant coffee for her blog.

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About PopKult

PopKult is devoted to the popular, contemporary cultures of Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Central Asia, and other Eurasian countries. We hope that this site will encourage cultural curiosity in our students and provide them with sources of modern language to learn from. Read more about PopKult and SRAS here.